The question is not do you know the story behind the title of this series of postings. Anyone who has spent time in church has heard the story, along with many sermons and teachings on the subject. The passage that usually accompanies the story of Cain and Abel is the episode involving the “Good Samaritan.” The combination of these two Bible presentations say a great deal about helping those in need of help. It is from such Bible stories that the Social Gospel came into being. The purpose of this ministry is to pick up the story where the church leaves off and, as the Apostle Paul said, to present “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Teaching only half of God’s Word on a subject is like building only half a house–both are useless. And when people are assured by their teachers/builders that the half they have heard is in reality all there is, nothing good results. Therefore let us do what I always implore Bible students to do: KEEP READING–keep studying God’s Word “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” as commanded in Isaiah 28:9-13). Let us now obey the Lord.

In the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis we find that Adam and Eve’s first son, Cain, has martyred his brother Abel and buried him in the ground. Then we find the Lord questioning Cain about Abel’s absence. Cain’s answer came in the form of a question. His answer/question:”Am I my brother’s keeper?” has been the subject of thousands of sermons and teachings throughout the Western world for the past 2000 years. The question God asked Cain concerned much more than Abel’s physical location as this study will show. For those of us who call ourselves by His name, both His question and Cain’s answer have eternal significance for ourselves and for those around us.

For those who profess to be God’s people, His question and Cain’s answer must be viewed not in terms of physical location, but in terms of spiritual condition. This fact was brought out in the Lord’s response to Cain’s answer. He asked, “What have you done?” This question is the focal point of this series of teachings. God’s people must place that question second in importance only to their personal relationship with Him. “What have I done” relative to other people is the question we must ask ourselves at the end of each day. “What need I do?” must be the question with which we face each new day. If we can answer each question positively we will find ourselves in good standing with our Maker. We will indeed be our brother’s keeper.

God–the Word Who became Jesus of Nazareth–simply asked Cain what he had done relative to his brother–how he had “kept” his younger sibling. In his answer (4:9) Cain used the word whose English translation is “keeper.” The word–“keeper”–in Hebrew carries much more significance than in English. The Hebrew word is “samar,” meaning to watch, guard, be careful for, to be aware of. Let us compare the word “samar” to the same word used to describe Abel as a “keeper” of sheep (4:2)–“raa,” meaning to be a friend or companion. To illustrate the importance of the word “keep,” its various uses and the importance of all of them I will use as an example God’s command concerning His Sabbath Day. In Exodus 20:8-11 we find Him commanding His people to “keep” the seventh day of the week. The Word He uses is “gadas,” meaning to make sacred, holy, to consecrate, dedicate, set apart. Because desecration of the Lord’s Sabbath is the sin most often committed by Institutional Christianity and the sin the world is most aware of, I will use it in this illustration. When professing Christians repeatedly and openly reject God’s command before each other and the world they are doing much more than rebelling against the God they profess to obey. By observing Satan’s sabbath each one is failing to “keep” his/her religious brethren, as well as those outside his/her religious circle. By rejecting God’s commanded 7th day (Saturday) Sabbath, those within professing Christendom are in fact showing both the churched and the unchurched how to rebel against God and get away with it, or so it would appear. By observing the Catholic Sabbath, the church is telling the world that Pope Sylvester the First’s 364 A.D. decree overrules God’s stone-etched command. God’s question to sinning churchman–“What have you done?”–is much more significant than most people realize. The Sabbath rejecter has not only placed him/herself on the wide path to destruction, but is luring those around him/her to follow in his/her footsteps–he/she is failing to properly “keep” his/her fellow man by presenting the proper God-obeying example. The end result will be catastrophic for both. To be continued. L.J.